Fathers at Twilight
by Obsesive Reader
Summary: A week before Bella comes to Forks Charlie get 5 books with the instructs to get the Quiluete Elders, Carlisle, and Edward together to read about the future.
1. Intro

**An: This story will be a reading the books fanfiction. It will be set pre-Twilight.**

**Disclaimer: I'm a poor college student not a rich mother.**

**Blah** = books

Blah = my writing

Blah= thoughts Edward hears

_**Fathers at Twilight**_

_**Prologue**_

Charlie Swan woke on a misty Sunday morning intending to visit his best friend Billy Black and collect his old 1960's Chevy Pick-up. He walked into the kitchen intending to fry himself a couple of eggs when he saw a stack of five books sitting on his kitchen table. Charlie immediately went into Police Chief Mode thinking that someone had illegally entered his home, but it was still locked up like he left it the night before, so he returned to the kitchen to look over the books. Upon closer inspection there was a note sitting atop the stack of books…

_Charlie,_

_I need you to get together a couple of people to read these books. If you find any resistance simply say you will find out more on the Cullens if you come. Now you are most likely wondering why you and the others need to read these books…well these books are about your children… they're also from the future. I know you are having a hard time accepting this so if you want to make sure, feel free to check the publishing date on the books…_

Charlie being a man whose faith stopped at his favorite fishing hole picked up the first book and looked for the publishing date which to his surprise was October 2005. Now a firm believer he returned to the letter…

_Believe me now, huh. Here is your list of people to gather. Tell them to meet you at you house. If you're wondering why just imagine your house is Switzerland._

_Edward Cullen_

_Carlisle Cullen_

_Billy Black_

_Quill Ateara Sr._

_Harry Clearwater_

_Good luck, Charlie. Make sure you read the books in order: _Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, The Short 2nd Life of Bree Tanner, Breaking Dawn_._

_Sincerely,_

_ RCCB & JEB_

_P.S. There is one thing between you all that is the same, and no, it is not that you are all male._

With a huff Charlie picked up the phone deciding to start at the top of the list…

"Cullen residence Esme speaking," Came a soft, bell-like voice.

"Hello Mrs. Cullen this is Charlie Swan. I was wondering if Dr. Cullen and your son Edward are home."

"Yes, they are in at the moment. Is there any trouble?" She questioned with worry coloring her voice.

"No, none at all I'm sorry if I lead you to believe such. I just need to discuss something with them."

"Oh, well Carlisle's right here."

"Hello," Answered a rich calming baritone.

"Dr. Cullen I know this might sound …odd, but I need you and your son Edward to come to my house to read a selection of books," Charlie, hearing a pause without response, continued, "You see I received them this morning explaining that they would be about our children and they are from the future."

"We'll be right over Charlie, but will there be anyone else reading with us?"

"Three other men from La Push: Billy Black, Old Quil Ateara, and Harry Clearwater."

"Alright Charlie we should be over shortly. Good Bye."

"Bye"

Well that was easier than I thought it was going to be, Charlie thought to himself. He then decided to call Billy figuring he could gather the others.

"Hey Charlie, did you call about the game?" Billy's mystical voice questioned over the line.

"Uh…no. Billy I need you, Old Quil, and Harry to come over to my place to read some books with Dr. Cullen and his son Edward," Charlie explained cautiously knowing how the Quileute Elders felt about the Cullens.

"…Why?" Billy questioned not wanting to upset Charlie after they had just gotten over a fight involving the Cullens.

"It is about our children's future," Charlie responded, but realizing it wasn't going to be enough he added, "You'll find out more about the Cullens if you come."

"Alright Charlie I'll get the others and we will head over to your house. See ya in about 15 minutes."

"Bye."

A knock at the door sounded through the house.

"Hello, Carlisle, Edward," Charlie greeted awkwardly as he walked them in to the living room. Carlisle and Edward took a seat and waited the silence continuing. "Billy Black and the others should be here soon," Charlie stated just as there was another knock at the door announcing the Quileute Elders' arrival.

"Before we start I think I should pass round the letter for everyone to read," Charlie said as he handed the letter to Billy who was sitting closest to him.

"JEB…Jacob Ephraim Black, but how could he get us these books and I have no idea who RCCB is," Billy stated calmly.

"Maybe it's a coincidence," Harry suggested.

"No disrespect sir, but given the nature of the books and the fact that Mr. Black himself was requested to be here it is extremely unlikely that it is a coincidence," Edward acknowledged respectfully, "Though I have no idea what we have in common besides being male."

"I think that they best way to discover more is to read the books that have been gifted to us," Old Quil said sagely.

Charlie picked up the book and began reading.

**Preface**

**I'd never given much thought to how I would die - though I'd had reason enough in the last few months - but even if I had, I would not have imagined it like this.**

** I stared without breathing across the long room, into the dark eyes of the hunter, and he looked pleasantly back at me.**

At this the Quileute Elders gave a knowing look to each other. Meanwhile Carlisle and Edward were sharing a silent conversation.

"A vampire obviously, but what would trigger this hunter to play with his food?" Carlisle wondered.

Edward simply shrugged.

** Surely it was a good way to die, in the place of someone else, someone I loved. Noble, even. That ought to count for something.**

Nods of agreement went throughout the group.

** I knew that if I'd never gone to Forks, I wouldn't be facing death now. But, terrified as I was, I couldn't bring myself to regret the decision. When life offers you a dream so far beyond any of your expectations, it's not reasonable to grieve when it comes to an end.**

** The hunter smiled in a friendly way as he sauntered forward to kill me.**

So far all the preface had done was affirm the Quileute Elders' opinion on vampires. It also made Carlisle and Edward cringe at the cruelty that their fellow vampire could show towards the beings that they had once resembled. And poor Charlie was left confused and wondering who this psycho was and if there was a way to protect his daughter. He now knew whose child was going to be narrating the book; all the other children of the men in the room had been in Forks for a very long time.

The only exception was his Bella.

**AN: Please Please Please review.**


	2. Chapter 1

**AN: sorry about how long this took. I went to Disneyland then almost immediately after I got back my family went camping. Plus I needed to find a job which I lost before I even started due to a communication error. So I've been stressed. Enough about my life on to the story you all have been waiting patiently for.**

**Disclaimer: No shit Sherlock I don't own Twilight.**

Charlie was about to pass the book off to Harry when he noticed a note tucked into the book on the page that he stopped at. "Guys looks like we have another note," Charlie announced and started to read it aloud.

_Now no fibbing children this is what's known as a truth circle. You can be as vague as you want, but no out right lying! It would be pointless anyway see as the books will reveal all._

_Love, the Squirt and her Giant 3._

"Well that was interesting should I start reading now?" Harry questioned.

**First Sight**

**My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt - sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka.**

** In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town and its gloomy, omnipresent shade that my mother escaped with me when I was only a few months old. It was in this town that I'd been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead.**

** It was Forks that I now exiled myself - an action that I took with great horror. I detested Forks.**

"Why is she coming here, then?" Edward asked with curiosity.

"I'm not sure. She just called up and asked one day," Charlie answered, "Maybe we'll find out why."

** I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the blistering heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city.**

** "Bella," my mom said to me - the last of a thousand times - before I got on the plane. "You don't have to do this."**

** My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, hare-brained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still…**

"Are you sure that Renee's not the one coming here to live with you Charlie?" Billy teased.

"Naw much too observant and responsible to be Renee," Charlie joked back.

** "I **_**want**_** to go," I lied. I'd always been a bad liar, but I'd been saying this lie so frequently lately that it sounded almost convincing now.**

** "Tell Charlie I said hi."**

** "I will."**

** "I'll see you soon," she insisted. "You can come home whenever you want - I'll come right back as soon as you need me."**

** But I could see the sacrifice in her eyes behind the promise.**

** "Don't worry about me," I urged. "It'll be great. I love you, Mom."**

** She hugged me tightly for a minute, and then I got on the plane, and she was gone.**

** It's a four-hour flight from Phoenix to Seattle, another hour in a small plane up to Port Angeles, and then an hour drive back down to Forks. Flying doesn't bother me; the hour in the car with Charlie, though, I was a little worried about.**

"What's wrong with spending time with your father? My son use to love to have one on one time with me," Old Quil asked.

"It's not that we don't like to spend time together it's more that we haven't seen much of each other so it gets awkward." Charlie responded.

** Charlie had really been fairly nice about the whole thing. He seemed genuinely pleased that I was coming to live with him…**

"Of course he's happy that she's coming. I know that Esme and I are always at our happiest when the whole family is at home together," Carlisle commented.

Edward started snickering, "Are you sure about that? Because that's not what you said the last time Emmett tried to get a pet pig or when Alice threw out your favorite loafers."

All Carlisle did was give Edward a look that clearly meant that he needed to stop picking on his sibling.

Meanwhile the Elders were shocked at how homey and close the Cullens seemed.

… **for the first time with any degree of permanence. He'd already gotten me registered for high school and was going to help me get a car.**

** But it was sure to be awkward with Charlie. Neither of us was that anyone would call verbose, and I didn't know what there was to say regardless. I knew he was more than a little confused by my decision - like my mother before me, I hadn't made a secret of my distaste for Forks.**

** When I landed in Port Angeles, it was raining. I didn't see it as an omen - just unavoidable. I'd already said my goodbyes to the sun.**

** Charlie was waiting for me with the cruiser. This I was expecting, too. Charlie is Police Chief Swan to the good people of Forks. My primary motivation behind buying a car, despite the scarcity of my funds, was that I refused to be driven around town in a car with red and blue lights on top. Nothing slows down traffic like a cop.**

"True," the Cullens said in unison.

The rest of the men looked shocked that Carlisle as a father agreed with something illegal.

** Charlie gave me an awkward, one-armed hug when I stumbled my way off the plane.**

** "It's good to see you, Bells," he said, smiling as he automatically caught and steadied me. "You haven't changed much. How's Ren****é****e?" **

** "Mom's fine. It's good to see you, too, Dad." I wasn't allowed to call him Charlie to his face.**

"She forgot to say hi for Renee." Harry mumbled to himself.

** I had only a few bags. Most of my Arizona clothes were too permeable for Washington. My mom and I had pooled our resources to supplement my winter wardrobe, but it was still scanty. It all fit easily into the trunk of the cruiser.**

** "I found a good car for you, really cheap," he announced when we were strapped in.**

** "What kind of car?" I was suspicious of the way he said "good car for **_**you**_**" as opposed to just "good car."**

** "Well, it's a truck actually, a Chevy."**

** "Where did you find it?"**

** "Do you remember Billy Black down at La Push?" La Push is the tiny Indian reservation on the coast.**

** "No."**

"Well I'm hurt," Billy stated hamming it up more than necessary.

** "He used to go fishing with us during the summer," Charlie prompted.**

** That would explain why I didn't remember him. I do a good job of blocking painful, unnecessary things form my memory.**

** "He's in a wheelchair now," Charlie continued when I didn't respond, "so he can't drive anymore, and he offered to sell me his truck cheap."**

** "What year is it?" I could see from his change of expression that this was the question he was hoping I wouldn't ask.**

** "Well Billy's done a lot of work on the engine - it's only a few years old, really."**

"Actually it was Jake that fixed it…I'm crap with cars I can barely change the windshield wipers by myself," Billy admitted sheepishly…well the note said to tell the truth.

** I hoped he didn't think so little of me as to believe I would give up that easily. "When did he buy it?"**

** "He bought it in 1984, I think."**

** "Did he buy it new?"**

** "Well, no. I think it was new in the early sixties - or late fifties at the earliest," he admitted sheepishly.**

"Ugh…If Rosalie hears about this truck she is going to run in the opposite direction," Edward commented.

"Why is she too good for an old car?" Old Quil commented he was after all a young man in the fifties.

"No, Rosalie just likes to fix and build cars, and the fifties and sixties weren't exactly what we would want to call her favorite." Carlisle explained.

Billy and Charlie raised their eyebrows at this having been the only two to actually know what Rosalie Cullen looks like.

"Don't let Rosalie's looks fool you," Edward simply put out there.

** "Ch - Dad, I don't really know anything about cars. I wouldn't be able to fix it if anything went wrong, and I couldn't afford a mechanic…."**

** "Really, Bella, the thing runs great. They don't build them like that anymore."**

_**The thing**_**, I thought to myself… it had possibilities - as a nickname, at the very least.**

** "How cheap is cheap?" After all, that was the part I couldn't compromise on.**

** "Well, honey, I kind of already bought it for you. As a homecoming gift." Charlie peeked sideways at me with a hopeful expression.**

** Wow. Free.**

"Well yeah. Jake was practically begging me to take The Thing."

** "You didn't need to do that, Dad. I was going to buy myself a car."**

** "I don't mind. I want you to be happy here." He was looking ahead at the road when he said this. Charlie wasn't comfortable with expressing his emotions out loud. I inherited that from him. So I was looking straight ahead as I responded.**

"Two peas in a pod," Billy snickered to himself.

** "That's really nice, Dad. Thanks. I really appreciate it." No need to add that my being happy in Forks is an impossibility.**

"Come on all you have to do is look for the silver lining," Harry encouraged momentarily forgetting that he was talking to a book.

**He didn't need to suffer along with me. And I never looked a free truck in the mouth - or engine.**

** "Well, now, you're welcome," he mumbled, embarrassed by my thanks.**

** We exchanged a few more comments on the weather, which was wet, and that was pretty much it for conversation. We stared out the windows in silence.**

** It was beautiful, of course; I couldn't deny that. Everything was green: the trees, their trunks covered with moss, their branches hanging with a canopy of it, the ground covered with ferns. Even the air filtered down greenly through the leaves.**

** It was too green - an alien planet.**

"I guess that would be a little jarring. Imagine going from one environment where there was little to no greenery to an environment where there was practically nothing but greenery," Edward commented insightfully.

** Eventually we made it to Charlie's. He still lived in the small, two-bedroom house that he'd bought with my mother in the early days of their marriage. Those were the only kind of days their marriage had - the early ones.**

Carlisle and Edward frowned at this; both having been raised when marriage was considered a forever thing.

**There, parked on the street in front of the house that never changed, was my new - well, new to me - truck. It was a faded red color, with big, rounded fenders and a bulbous cab. **

A horrified shuttered went through Edward at the description of The Thing.

**To my intense surprise, I loved it.**

"How?" Edward asked in disbelief.

Everyone gave him a look that said how-the-heck-are-we-supposed-to-know.

**I didn't know if it would run, but I could see myself in it. Plus, it was one of those solid iron affairs that never gets damaged - the kind you see at the scene of an accident, paint unscratched, surrounded by the pieces of the foreign car it had destroyed.**

"The Apocalypse couldn't take The Thing out," Billy muttered to himself.

** "Wow, Dad, I love it! Thanks!" Now my horrific day tomorrow would be just that much less dreadful. I wouldn't be faced with the choice of either walking two miles in the rain to school or accepting a ride in the Chief's cruiser.**

"Walk," Edward mumbled under his breath.

** "I'm glad you like it," Charlie said gruffly, embarrassed again. **

** It took only one trip to get all of my stuff upstairs. I got the west bedroom that faced out over the front yard. The room was familiar; it had been belonged to me since I born. The wooden floor, the lightblue walls, the peaked ceiling, the yellowed lace curtains around the window - these were all a part of my childhood. The only changes Charlie had ever made were switching the crib for a bed and adding a desk as I grew. The desk now held a secondhand computer, with the phone line for the modern stapled along with the floor nearest phone jack. This was a stipulation from my mother, so that we could stay in touch easily.**

"Why couldn't she have just used the house phone?" Old Quil asked, "Sounds like a waste of money to put in another phone when she could just as easily go down stairs."

"Renee insisted, and I was just so happy that Bella was coming that I didn't push it," responded Charlie.

**The rocking chair from my baby days was still in the corner.**

** There was only one small bathroom at the top of the stairs, which I would have to share with Charlie. I was trying not to dwell too much on that fact.**

"Me too now I get to look at feminine products every time I go in to use the john." Charlie grumbled.

** One of the best things about Charlie is he doesn't hover. He left me alone to unpack and get settled, a feat that would have been altogether impossible for my mother. It was nice to be alone, not to have to smile and looked pleased; a relief to stare dejectedly out the window at the sheeting rain and let just a few tears escape. I wasn't in the mood to go on a real crying jag. I would save that for bedtime, when I would have to think about the coming morning.**

Charlie frowned at this wish that he could find a way for his little girl to be happy in her new home.

** Forks High School had a frightening total of only three hundred and fifty-seven - now fifty-eight - students; there were more than seven hundred people in my junior class alone back home. All of the kids here had grown up together - their grandparents had been toddlers together. I would be the new girl form the big city, a curiosity, a freak.**

"Sorry, but you can't be the freak here my family already has the patent on that title," Carlisle said jokingly trying to lighten the mood.

Edward gave him a look that said he was spending too much time with Emmett.

** Maybe, if I looked like a girl from Phoenix should, I could work this to my advantage. But physically, I'd never fir in anywhere. I **_**should**_** be tan, sporty, blond - a volleyball player, or a cheerleader, perhaps - all the things that go with living in the valley of the sun.**

"Well that's ridiculous. They can't all be that way in Phoenix. For one there aren't enough positions on the squads or teams and secondly the world would be an awfully boring place if everyone was the same. It needs individuals to liven it up," Harry stated insightfully.

** Instead, I was ivory-skinned, without much even the excuse of blue eyes or red hair, despite the constant sunshine. I had always been slender, but soft somehow, obviously not an athlete; I didn't have the necessary hand-eye coordination to play sports without humiliating myself - and harming both myself and anyone else who stood too close.**

"For her sake I hope she doesn't have Emmett in her P.E. class," Edward said.

"Why?" Charlie asked not knowing the older Cullen boy well enough.

"Emmett enjoys a laugh anywhere he can get it…he's the clown in our family," Edward replied.

"Don't worry Charlie, Emmett's never malicious with his sense of humor. He knows when it goes beyond funny and turns into cruel," Carlisle informed Charlie.

** When I finished putting my clothes in the old pine dresser, I took my bag of bathroom necessities and went to the communal bathroom to clean myself up after the day of travel. I looked at my face in the mirror as I brushed through my tangled, damp hair. Maybe it was the light, but already I looked sallower, unhealthy. My skin could be pretty - it was very clear, almost translucent-looking - but it all depended on color. I had no color here.**

** Facing my pallid reflection in the mirror, I was forced to admit that I was lying to myself. It wasn't just physically that I'd never fit in. And if I couldn't find a niche in a school with three thousand people, what were my chances here?**

Carlisle ever the doctor couldn't stop himself from wondering what in Bella's past had caused her to have such low self confidence.

"Maybe she was teased by the other students," Edward supplied at a volume too low for the humans in the room.

Carlisle nodded thinking that this was the most likely cause.

** I didn't relate well to people my age. Maybe the truth was that I didn't relate will to people, period. Even my mother, who I was closer to than anyone else on the planet, was never in harmony with me, never on exactly the same page. Sometimes I wondered if I was seeing the same things through my eyes the rest of the world was seeing through theirs. Maybe there was a glitch in my brain.**

** But the cause didn't matter. All that mattered was the effect. And tomorrow would be just the beginning.**

"She needs to relax," Edward commented, "She will fit in just fine."

** I didn't sleep well that night, even after I was done crying. The constant **_**whoosh**_**ing of the rain and wind across the roof wouldn't fade into the background. I pulled the faded old quilt over my head, and later added the pillow, too. But I couldn't fall asleep until after midnight, when the rain finally settled into a quieter drizzle.**

** Thick fog was all I could see out my window in the morning, and I could feel the claustrophobia creeping up on me. You could never see the sky here; it was like a cage.**

** Breakfast with Charlie was a quiet event. He wished me good luck at school. I thanked him, knowing his hope was wasted. Good luck tended to avoid me. Charlie left first, off to the police station that was his wife and family. After he left, I sat at the old square oak table in one of the three unmatching chairs –**

"Why don't your chairs match?" Harry asked, "Typically when you by a kitchen set the chairs match."

"I had a couple of them break over the years so I replaced them with whatever I could find," Charlie responded.

**- and examined his small kitchen, with its dark paneled walls, bright yellow cabinets, and white linoleum floor. Nothing was changed. My mother had painted the cabinets eighteen years ago in an attempt to bring some sunshine into the house. Over the small fireplace in the adjoining handkerchief-sized family room was a row of pictures. First a wedding picture of Charlie and my mom in Las Vegas, then one of the three of us in the hospital after I was born, taken by a helpful nurse, followed by the procession of my school pictures up to last year's. Those were embarrassing to look at - I would have to see what I could do to get Charlie to put them somewhere else, at least while I was living here.**

** It was impossible, being in this house, not to realize that Charlie had never gotten over my mom.**

Charlie turned tomato red at this. Out of respect to Charlie's privacy nobody commented.

**It made me uncomfortable.**

** I didn't want to be too early to school, but I couldn't stay in the house anymore. I donned my jacket - which had the feel of a biohazard suit - and headed out into the rain.**

** It was just drizzling still, not enough to soak me through immediately as I reached for the house key that was always hidden under the eaves by the door, and locked up. The sloshing of my new waterproof boots was unnerving. I missed the normal crunch of gravel as I walked. I couldn't pause and admire my truck again as I wanted; I was in a hurry to get out of the misty wet that swirled around my head and clung to my hair under my hood.**

** Inside the truck, it was nice and dry. Either Billy or Charlie had obviously cleaned it up, but the tan upholstered seats still smelled faintly of tobacco, gasoline, and peppermint. The engine started quickly, to my relief, but loudly, roaring to life and then idling at top volume. Well, a truck this old was bound to have a flaw. The antique radio worked, a plus that I hadn't expected.**

"That's because things were actually made to last when the Thing was born," Edward commented.

This caused Charlie to look at him oddly, "That sounds like something an old man would say." Charlie thought to himself.

** Finding the school wasn't difficult, though I'd never been there before. The school was, like most other things, just off the highway. It was not obvious that it was a school; only the sign, which declared it to be the Forks High School, made me stop. It looked like a collection of matching houses, built with maroon-colored bricks. There were so many trees and shrubs I couldn't see its size at first. Where was the feel of the institution? I wondered nostalgically. Where were the chain-link fences, the metal detectors?**

"Why would anyone want to go to a school where they had someone looking through all of their things every day?" asked Billy.

"I think it is more of what she is use to and less of actually wanting it there," Edward commented have thing felt the same thing as the years progressed especially where media and fashion were concerned.

** I parked in front of the first building, which had a small sign over the door reading FRONT OFFICE. No one else was parked there, so I was sure it was off limits, but I decided I would get directions inside instead of circling around in the rain like an idiot. I stepped unwillingly out of the toasty truck cab and walked down a little stone path lined with dark hedges. I took a deep breath before opening the door.**

** Inside, it was brightly lit, and warmer than I'd hoped. The office was small; a little waiting area with padded folding chairs, orange-flecked commercial carpet, notices and awards cluttering the walls, a big clock ticking loudly. Plants grew everywhere in large plastic pots, as if there wasn't enough greenery outside. The room was cut in half by a long counter, cluttered with wire baskets full of papers and brightly colored flyers taped to its front. There were three desks behind the counter, one of which was manned by a large, red-haired woman wearing glasses. She was wearing a purple t-shirt, which immediately made me feel overdressed.**

A shiver of revolution went through Edward's spine at the mention of Mrs. Cope.

"What?" Old Quil asked having actually noticed the vampire's movement.

"It's nothing, Mrs. Cope just thinks that Edward's handsome," Carlisle stated trying to tone down the very obvious and very disturbing crush that she actually had on his son.

** The red-haired woman looked up. "Can I help you?"**

** "I'm Isabella Swan," I informed her, and saw the immediate awareness light her eyes. I was expected, a topic of gossip no doubt. Daughter of the Chief's flighty ex-wife, come home at last.**

One of Edward's eyebrows shot up at this for it in fact had been what people had been saying nonstop sense Charlie had let it slip that his daughter would be moving in.

** "Of course," she said. She dug through a precariously stacked pile of documents on her desk till she found the ones she was looking for. "I have your schedule right here, and a map of the school." **

All the men snorted in almost unison at the thought of actually needing a map to find your way through any part of Forks that wasn't the forest.

**She brought several sheets to the counter to show me.**

** She went through my classes for me, highlighting the best route to each on the map, and gave me a slip to have each teacher sign, which I was to bring back to the end of the day. She smiled at me and hoped, like Charlie, that I would like it here in Forks. I smiled back as convincingly as I could.**

** When I went back out to my truck, other students were starting to arrive. I drove around the school, following the line of traffic. I was glad to see that most of the cars were older like mine, nothing to flashy. At home I'd lived in one of the few lower-income neighborhoods that were included in the Paradise Valley District. It was a common thing to see a new Mercedes or Porsche in the student lot. The nicest car here was a shiny Volvo, and it stood out.**

Edward's face broke out into a smile at the mention of his Volvo. It wasn't his favorite, but it still was one of his guilty pleasures.

**Still, I cut the engine as soon as I was in a spot, so that the thunderous volume wouldn't draw attention to me.**

** I looked at the map in the truck, trying to memorize it now; hopefully I wouldn't have to walk around with it stuck in front of my nose all day. I stuffed everything in my bag, slung the strap over my shoulder, and sucked in a huge breath. I can so this, I lied to myself feebly. No one was going to bite me.**

At this the Cullen's could hold back a couple of stifled chuckles. Earning them an astonished look from the Elders and a small smile from Charlie.

**I finally exhaled and stepped out of the truck.**

** I kept my face pulled back into my hood as I walked to the sidewalk, crowded with teenagers. My plain black jacket didn't stand out, I noticed with relief.**

** Once I got around the cafeteria, building three was easy to spot. A large black "3" was painted on a white square on the east corner. I felt my breathing gradually creeping toward hyperventilation as I approached the door. I tried holding my breath as I followed two unisex raincoats through the door.**

** The classroom was small. The people in front of me stopped just inside the door to hang up their coats on a long row of hooks. I copied them. They were two girls, one porcelain-colored blonde, the other also pale, with light brown hair. At least my skin wouldn't be a standout here.**

** I took the slip up to the teacher, a tall balding man whose desk had a nameplate identifying him as Mr. Mason. He gawked at me -**

"You would think the adults would at least have the decorum to treat her like another student," Carlisle commented.

**- when he saw my name - not an encouraging response - and of course I flushed tomato red. But at least he sent me to an empty desk at the back without introducing me to the class. It was harder for my new classmates to stare at me in the back, but somehow, they managed. I kept my eyes down on the reading list the teacher had given me. It was fairly basic: Bront****ё****, Shakespeare, Chaucer, Faulkner. **

Both Edward and Carlisle were shocked to find such a well read teenager; most girls that age typically read the incredibly inaccurate vampire romance novels the Cullens enjoyed making fun of.

**I'd already read everything. That was comforting … and boring. I wondered if my mom would send me my folder of old essays, or if she would think that was cheating. I went through different arguments with her in my head while the teacher droned on.**

** When the bell rang, a nasal buzzing sound, a gangly boy with a skin problems and as an oil slick leaned across the aisle to talk to me.**

"Eric Yorkie, he's okay tends to think a lot of himself, but he's helpful to almost anybody," Edward supplied to those in the room who were unfamiliar to the teens of Forks.

** "You're Isabella Swan, aren't you?" He looked like the overly helpful, chess club type.**

** "Bella," I corrected. Everyone within a three-seat radius turned to look at me.**

** "Where's your next class?" he asked.**

** I had to check in my bag. "Um, Government, with Jefferson, in building six."**

** There was nowhere to look without meeting curious eyes.**

** "I'm headed toward building four, I could show you the way…" Definitely over-helpful. "I'm Eric," he added.**

** I smiled tentatively. "Thanks."**

** We got out jackets and headed out into the rain, which had picked up. I could have sworn several people behind us were walking close enough to eavesdrop. I hoped I wasn't getting paranoid.**

** "So, this is a lot different than Phoenix, huh?" he asked.**

** "Very."**

** "It doesn't rain much there, does it?"**

** "Three or four times a year."**

** "Wow, what must that be like?" he wondered.**

** "Sunny," I told him.**

** "You don't look very tan."**

Carlisle was shaking his head wondering when teenagers stopped learning tact.

** "My mother is part albino."**

** He studied my face apprehensively, and I sighed. It looked like clouds and a sense of humor didn't mix. A few months of this and I'd forget how to use sarcasm.**

** We walked back around the cafeteria, to the south buildings by the gym. Eric walked me right to the door, though it was clearly marked.**

** "Well, good luck," he said as I touched the handle. "Maybe we'll have some other classes together." He sounded hopeful.**

** I smiled at him vaguely and went inside.**

** The rest of the morning passed in about the same fashion. My trigonometry teacher, Mr. Varner, who I would have hated anyway just because of the subject he taught, was the only one who made me stand in front of the class and introduce myself. I stammered, blushed, and tripped over my own boots on the way to my seat.**

** After two classes, I started to recognize several of the faces in each class. There was always someone braver than the others who would introduce themselves and ask me questions about how I was liking Forks. I tried to be diplomatic, but mostly I just lied a lot. **

"And they believed her?" Charlie said in disbelief, "Bella's the worst liar on the planet."

**A least I never needed the map.**

** One girl sat next to me in both Trig and Spanish, and she walked with me to the cafeteria for lunch. She was tiny, several inches shorter than my five feet four inches, but her wildly curly dark hair made up a lot of the difference between out heights. I couldn't remember her name, -**

"Jessica Stanley," Edward said in revulsion.

"Uh… I take it you don't like her," Harry questioned.

"No, she's infatuated with me. It took almost two years for me to make her comprehend that I have absolutely no feelings for her."

**- so I smiled and nodded as she prattled about teachers and classes. I didn't try to keep up.**

** We sat at the end of a full table with several of her friends, who she introduced to me. I forgot all their names as soon as she spoke them.**

"That's not the right way to make friends," Billy said sarcastically.

**They seemed impressed by her bravery in speaking to me.**

This earned an eye-roll from Edward.

**The boy from English, Eric, waved at me from across the room.**

** It was there, sitting in the lunchroom, trying to make conversation with seven curious strangers, that I first saw them.**

** They were sitting in the corner of the cafeteria, as far away from where I sat as possible in the long room. There were five of them. They weren't talking, and they weren't eating, though they each had a tray of untouched food in front of them. They weren't gawking at me, unlike most of the other students, so it was safe to stare at them without fear of meeting an excessively interested pair of eyes. But it was none of these things that caught, and held my attention.**

"How can she notice this much its inhuman?" Carlisle questioned in his mind.

** They didn't look anything alike. Of the three boys, one was big - muscled like a serious weight lifter, with dark, curly hair.**

"Emmett," Edward identified.

**Another was taller, leaner, but still muscular, and honey blond.**

"Jasper"

**The last was lanky, less bulky, with untidy bronze-colored hair. He was more boyish than the others, who looked like they could be in college, or even teachers here rather than students.**

** The girls were opposites. The tall one was statuesque. She had a beautiful figure, the kind that you saw on the cover of the **_**Sports Illustrated**_** swimsuit issue, the kind that made every girl around her take a hit on her self-esteem just by being in the same room. Her hair was golden, gently waving to the middle of her back.**

"Rosalie," Edward snorted conveying that he didn't agree with the description.

**The short girl was pixielike, thin in the extreme, with small features. Her hair was a deep black, cropped short and pointing in every direction.**

"Alice."

** And yet, they were all exactly alike. Every one of them was chalky pale, the palest of all the students living in this sunless town. Paler than me, the albino. They all had very dark eyes despite the range in hair tones. They also had dark shadows under those eyes - purplish, bruise-like shadows. As if they were all suffering from sleepless night, or almost done recovering from a broken nose. Though their noses, all their features, were straight, perfect, angular.**

Charlie was now looking at Carlisle and Edward. He too noticed so of the same things; though the bruise-like shadows were considerably lighter than what Bella had described.

** But all this is not why I couldn't look away.**

** I stared because their faces, so different, so similar, were all devastatingly, inhumanly beautiful. They were faces you never expected to see perhaps on the airbrushed pages of a fashion magazine. Or painted by an old master as the face of an angel. It was hard to decide who was the most beautiful - maybe the perfect blond, or the bronze-haired boy.**

Edward pulled a face at being compared to Rosalie in anyway.

"Edward," Carlisle said in soft chastisement.

** They were all looking away - away from each other, away from the other students, way from anything in particular as far as I could tell. As I watched, the small girl rose with her tray - unopened soda, unbitten apple - and walked away with a quick, graceful lope that belonged on a runway. I watched, amazed her lithe dancer's steps, till she dumped her tray -**

"Well that was wasteful," Old Quil who was born at the end of the Great Depression which caused his parents to waste nothing.

**- and glided through the back door, faster than I would have thought possible. My eyes darted back to the others, who sat unchanging.**

** "Who are **_**they?**_**" I asked the girl from my Spanish class, whose name I'd forgotten.**

"Not Jessica you'll get the most bias answer I've ever heard," Edward moaned.

** As she looked up to see who I meant - though already knowing, probably from my tone - suddenly he looked at her, the thinner on, the boyish one, the youngest, perhaps. He looked at my neighbor for just a fraction of a second, and then his dark eyes flickered to mine.**

** He looked away quickly, more quickly than I could, though in a flush of embarrassment I dropped my eyes at once. In that brief flash of a glance, his face held nothing of interest - it was as if she had called his name, and he'd looked up in involuntary response, already having decided not to answer.**

Edward's eyebrows shot up at the accurate description of his book-self's reaction.

** My neighbor giggled in embarrassment, looking at the table like I did.**

** "That's Edward and Emmett Cullen, and Rosalie and Jasper Hale. The one that just left was Alice Cullen; they all live together with Dr. Cullen and his wife." She said this under her breath.**

** I glanced sideways at the beautiful boy, who was looking at his tray now, picking a bagel to pieces with long, pale fingers. His mouth was moving very quickly, his perfect lips barely opening. The other three still looked away, and yet I felt he was speaking quietly to them.**

"She's going to notice everything isn't she?" Edward asked Carlisle under his breathe.

Carlisle's thoughts where somewhere between a shrug and a nod.

** Strange, unpopular names, I thought. The kinds of names grandparents had. But maybe that was in vogue here - small town names? I finally remembered that my neighbor was called Jessica, a perfectly common name. There were two girls named Jessica in my History class back home.**

** "They are … very nice-looking." I struggled with the conspicuous understatement.**

** "Yes!" Jessica agreed with another giggle. "They're all **_**together**_** though - Emmett and Rosalie, and Jasper and Alice, I mean. And they **_**live **_**together."**

"It's not like they're related," Charlie commented.

**Her voice held all the shock and condemnation of the small town, I thought critically. But, if I was being honest, I had to admit that even in Phoenix, it would cause gossip.**

** "Which ones are the Cullens?" I asked. "They don't look related…."**

** "Oh, they're not. Dr. Cullen is really young, in his twenties or early thirties. They're all adopted. The Hales **_**are**_** brother and sister, twins - the blondes - and they're foster children."**

** "They look a little old for foster children."**

Edward couldn't hold back a snicker. Causing Charlie to look at him oddly.

** "They are now, Jasper and Rosalie are both eighteen, but they've been with Mrs. Cullen since they were eight. She's their aunt or something like that."**

** "That's really kind of nice - for them to take care of all those kids like that, when they're so young and everything."**

"Your daughter is very kind Charlie," Carlisle commented.

** "I guess so," Jessica admitted reluctantly, and I got the impression that she didn't like the doctor and his wife for some reason. **

"Jealousy," Edward stated bluntly.

**With the glances she was throwing at their adopted children, I would presume the reason was jealousy. "I think Mrs. Cullen can't have kids,**

Which Carlisle frowned at; knowing that if he could he would give his wife as many children as she desired.

**- though," she added, as if that lessened their kindness.**

** Throughout all this conversation, my eyes flickered again and again to the table where the strange family sat. They continued to look at the walls and not eat.**

** "Have they always lived in Forks?" I asked. Surely I would have noticed them on one of my summers here.**

** "No," she said in a voice that implied it should be obvious, even to a new arrival like me. "They just moved down two years ago from somewhere in Alaska."**

** I felt a surge or pity, and relief.**

"Jasper's going to be so confused," Edward mumbled to Carlisle.

**Pity because, as beautiful as they were, they were outsiders, clearly not accepted. Relief that I wasn't the only newcomer here, and certainly not the most interesting by any standard.**

** As I examined them, the youngest, one of the Cullens, looked up and met my gaze, this time with evident curiosity in his expression. As I looked swiftly away, it seemed to me that his glance held some kind of unmet expectation.**

** "Which one is the boy with the reddish brown hair?" I asked. I peeked at him from the corner of my eye, and he was still staring at me, but not gawking like the other students had today - he had a slightly frustrated expression. I looked down again.**

"What's wrong Edward not what you expected?" Harry joked. All Edward did in reply was shrug not knowing what was wrong with his future-self.

** "That's Edward. He's gorgeous, of course, but don't waste your time. He doesn't date. Apparently none of the girls here are good enough for him."**

"No I just want a woman with a brain between her ears, and who cares more about her partner than about how that partner makes her look," Edward replied snidely.

**She sniffed, a clear case of sour grapes. I wondered when he'd turned her down.**

"Which time the first of the seventh?" Edward asked sarcastically.

** I bit my lip to hide my smile. Then I glanced at him again. His face was turned away, but I thought his cheek appeared lifted, as if he were smiling, too.**

** After a few more minutes, the four of them left the table together. They all were noticeably graceful - even the big, brawny one. It was unsettling to watch. The one named Edward didn't look at me again.**

** I sat at the table with Jessica and her friends longer than I would have if I'd been sitting alone. I was anxious not to be late for class on my first day. Once of my new acquaintances, who considerately reminded me that her name was Angela, -**

"Nice, shy, and open-minded; becomes best friends with her instead of Jessica, she's a much better person," Edward suggested forgetting momentarily that they were reading a book and that Bella could not hear him.

**- had Biology II with me the next hour. We walked to class together in silence. She was shy, too.**

** When we entered the classroom, Angela went to sit at a black-topped lab table exactly like the ones I was used to. She already had a neighbor. In fact, all the tables were filled but one. Next to the center aisle, I recognized Edward Cullen by his unusual hair, sitting next to that single open seat.**

** As I walked down the aisle to introduce myself to the teacher and get my slip signed, I was watching him surreptitiously. Just as I passed, he suddenly went rigid in his seat. He stared at me again, meeting my eyes with the strangest expression on his face - it was hostile, furious. I looked away quickly, shocked, going red again. I stumbled over a book in the walkway and had to catch myself on the edge of a table. The girl sitting there giggled.**

** I'd noticed that his eyes were black - coal black.**

"Shit," Edward cursed; Carlisle giving him a look that conveyed that he believed in him and that all would be fine. The Elders immediately stiffened recognizing the signs of a hungry vampire. And poor Charlie was left confused.

** Mr. Banner signed my slip and handed me a book with no nonsense about introductions. I could tell we were going to get along. Of course, he had no choice but to send me to the one open seat in the middle of the room. I kept my eyes down as I went to sit by **_**him**_**, bewildered by the antagonistic stare he'd given me.**

"What the hell is wrong with you?" Charlie finally snapped.

"I'm hungry," Edward responded truthfully. This just led to Charlie being even more confused than before.

** I didn't look up as I set my book on the table and took my seat, but I saw his posture change from the corner of my eye. He was leaning away from me, sitting on the extreme edge of his chair and averting his face like he smelled something bad. Inconspicuously, I sniffed my hair. It smelled like strawberries, the scent of my favorite shampoo. It seemed an innocent enough odor. I let my hair fall over my right shoulder, making a dark curtain –**

At this Edward simply groaned leaned on this seat resting his elbows on his knees and planted his face into his hands. Carlisle trying to comfort his son sat rubbing his back think that everything would be alright.

**- between us, and tried to pay attention to the teacher.**

** Unfortunately the lecture was on cellular anatomy, something I'd already studied. I took notes carefully anyway, always looking down.**

** I couldn't stop myself from peeking occasionally through the screen of my hair at the strange boy next to me. During the whole class, he never relaxed his stiff position on the edge of his chair, sitting as far from me as possible. I could see his hand on his left leg was clenched into a fist, tendons standing out under his pale skin. This, too, he never relaxed. He had the long sleeves of his white shirt pushed up to his elbows, and his forearm was surprisingly hard and muscular beneath his light skin. He wasn't nearly as slight as he'd looked next to his burly brother.**

"That's because Emmett's a bear," Edward mumbled through his hands.

"Don't let Emmett hear you say that," Carlisle warned.

** The class seemed to drag on longer than the others. Was it because the day was finally coming to a close, or because I was waiting for his tight fist to loosen? It never did; he continued to sit so still it looked like he wasn't breathing.**

"I'm most likely not," Edward whispered at a volume he didn't expect the humans to here, but by Charlie's startled expression Edward could tell that he had heard him.

**What was wrong with him? Was this his normal behavior? I questioned my judgment on Jessica's bitterness at lunch today. Maybe she was not as resentful as I'd thought.**

_Great I just earned Jessica a second chance,_ Edward thought to himself.

** It couldn't have anything to do with me. He didn't know me from Eve.**

** I peeked up at him one more time, and regretted it. He was glaring down at me again, his black eyes full of revulsion.**

"What is wrong with you?" Charlie asked angrily.

"I'm very hungry," Edward mumbled dejectedly.

"What does that have to do with you glaring at my daughter?" Charlie questioned.

"I'm guessing that the book will explain," Carlisle responded trying to defuse the tension.

**As I flinched away from him, shrinking against my chair, the phrase **_**if looks could kill **_**suddenly ran through my mind.**

** At that moment, the bell rang loudly, making me jump, and Edward Cullen was out of his seat. Fluidly he rose - he was much taller than I'd thought - his back to me, and he was out of the door before anyone else was out of their seat.**

** I sat frozen in my seat, staring blankly after him. He was so mean. It wasn't fair. I began gathering up my things slowly, trying to block the anger that filled me, for fear my eyes would tear up. For some reason, my temper was hardwired to my tear ducts. I usually cried when I was angry, a humiliating tendency.**

** "Aren't you Isabella Swan?" a male voice asked.**

** I looked up to see a cute, baby-faced boy, his pale blond hair carefully gelled into orderly spikes, smiling at me in a friendly way.**

"Mike Newton, pervert, annoying, clueless," Edward answered before adding, "Male version of Jessica."

**He obviously didn't think I smelled bad.**

** "Bella," I corrected him, with a smile.**

** "I'm Mike."**

** "Hi, Mike."**

** "Do you need any help finding your next class?"**

** "I'm headed to the gym, actually. I think I can find it."**

** "That's my next class, too." He seemed thrilled, though it wasn't that big of a coincidence in a school this small.**

"Especially considering there are only two gym periods per grade level," Edward said critically.

** We walked to class together; he was a chatterer - he supplied most of the conversation, which made it easy for me. He'd lived in California till he was ten, so he knew how I felt about the sun. It turned out he was in my English class also. He was the nicest person I'd met today.**

** But as we were entering the gym, he asked, "So, did you stab Edward Cullen with a pencil or what? I've never seen him act like that."**

** I cringed. So I wasn't the only one who had noticed. And apparently, that **_**wasn't**_** Edward Cullen's usual behavior. I decided to play dumb.**

** "Was that the boy I sat next to in Biology?" I asked artlessly.**

** "Yes," he said. "He looked like he was in pain or something."**

** "I don't know," I responded. "I never spoke to him."**

** "He's a weird guy." Mike lingered by me instead of heading to the dressing room. "If I were lucky enough to sit by you, I would have talked to you."**

"I don't like him," Charlie commented forming plans to get Bella into an all-girl college.

"Charlie take it from me they have to date sometime," Billy comforted, "Better now where you can keep an eye on her first boyfriend; rather than 1000 miles away where she lives in her own apartment."

"She could always become a nun," Charlie muttered causing Carlisle to laugh.

** I smiled at him before walking through the girls' locker room door. He was friendly and clearly admiring. But it wasn't enough to ease my irritation.**

** The Gym teacher, Coach Clapp, found me a uniform but didn't make me dress down for today's class. At home, only two years of P.E. were required. Here, P.E. was mandatory all four years. Forks was literally my personal hell on Earth.**

"Hey if Charlie survived then you'll be fine," Harry joked at which caused Charlie to blush tomato red.

** I watched four volleyball games running simultaneously. Remembering how many injuries I had sustained - and inflicted - playing volleyball, I felt faintly nauseated.**

"Well she definitely gets that from you Charlie; the only sport you can manage is fishing and that's because you stay still for most of it," Billy teased.

** The final bell rang at last. I walked slowly to the office to return my paperwork. The rain had drifted away, but the wind was strong, and colder. I wrapped my arms around myself.**

** When I walked into the warm office, I almost turned around and walked back out.**

** Edward Cullen stood at the desk in front of me.**

"This is God's backlash for the thirties isn't it?" Edward moaned once again planting his face into his hands.

"Everyone makes mistakes Edward. God is not punishing you," Carlisle reassured.

These comments both worried and confused the Elders. Worried because they wondered what exactly happened in the thirties, and confused because they didn't expect vampires to care about what God thought, let alone believe in Him.

**I recognized that tousled bronze hair. He didn't appear to notice the sound of my entrance. I stood press against the back wall, waiting for the receptionist to be free.**

** He was arguing with her in a low, attractive voice.**

"Mrs. Cope's going to unbearable after this," Edward groaned. The rest of the men in the room chuckled at the teenager's dismay.

**I quickly picked up the gist of the argument. He was trying to trade from sixth-hour Biology to another time - any other time.**

** I just couldn't believe that this was about me. It had to be something else, something that happened before I entered the Biology room. The look on his face must have been about another aggravation entirely. It was impossible that this stranger could take such a sudden, intense dislike to me.**

** The door opened again, and the cold wind suddenly gusted through the room, -**

Edward didn't say anything he simply groaned and sat back with his head hanging off the back of the couch.

**- rustling the papers on the desk, swirling my hair around my face. The girl who came in merely stepped to the desk, placed a note in the wire basket, and walked out again. But Edward Cullen's back stiffened, and he turned slowly to glare at me - his face was absurdly handsome - with piercing, hate-filled eyes. For an instant, I felt a thrill of genuine fear, raising the hair on my arms. The look only lasted a second, but it chilled me more than the freezing wind. He turned back to the receptionist.**

** "Never mind, then," he said hastily in a voice like velvet. "I can see that it's impossible. Thank you so much for your help." And he turned on his heel without another look at me, and disappeared out the door.**

** I went to the desk, my face white for once instead of red, and handed her the signed slip.**

** "How did your first day go, dear?" the receptionist asked maternally.**

** "Fine," I lied, my voice weak. She didn't look convinced. **

** When I got to the truck, it was almost the last car in the lot. It seemed like a haven, already the closest thing to home. I had in this damp green hole. I sat inside for a while, just staring out the windshield blankly. But soon I was cold enough to need the heater, so I turned the key and the engine roared to life. I headed back to Charlie's house, fighting tears the whole way there.**

"Don't worry she cries when she's mad," Charlie informed the room as Harry passed the book to Old Quil.

**P.S.: Thanks to my awesome beta and do me a favor review; it takes you a couple of seconds, but it makes me happy for hours.**


	3. Chapter 2

**AN: I am so sorry this took this long. I think I have finally balanced out my writing schedule so I hope to be update more often. I don't quit my stories. I don't own the Twilight saga.**

Old Quil cleared his throat and began to read.

**CHAPTER 2: Open Book**

**The next day was better… and worse.**

**It was better because it wasn't raining yet, though the clouds were dense and opaque. It was easier because I knew what to expect of my day. Mike came to sit by me in English, and walked me to my next class, with Chess Club Eric glaring at him all the while; that was nattering. People didn't look at me quite as much as they had yesterday. **

**I sat with a big group at lunch that included Mike, Eric, Jessica, and several other people whose names and faces I now remembered. I began to feel like I was treading water, instead of drowning in it.**

**It was worse because I was tired; I still couldn't sleep with the wind echoing around the house. **

Charlie had a worried look across his face on whether it would be best for his daughter to move to Forks if it was affecting her sleeping patterns this much.

"You don't need to worry Charlie it takes on average of three days for human beings to acclimatize to a new environment," Carlisle comforted.

**It was worse because Mr. Varner called on me in Trig when my hand wasn't raised and I had the wrong answer. **

"He does that to everyone," Edward supplied.

**It was miserable because I had to play volleyball, and the one time I didn't cringe out of the way of the ball, I hit my teammate in the head with it.**

**And it was worse because Edward Cullen wasn't in school at all.**

Edward smirked, but then his face changed into a dark foreboding look.

"Edward there is no need to worry; she could simply be a curious human or at worse she could be infatuated with you like Jessica Stanley has been for the last two years," Carlisle thought with an internal chuckle.

Edward relaxed a little at his _father's_ comforting thoughts, but grimaced at the Jessica jibe.

Meanwhile the Elders were becoming increasingly worried about Bella's growing obsession with the bronze-haired vampire.

**All morning I was dreading lunch, fearing his bizarre glares. Part of me wanted to confront him and demand to know what his problem was. **

**While I was lying sleepless in my bed, I even imagined what I would say. But I knew myself too well to think I would really have the guts to do it. I made the Cowardly Lion look like the terminator.**

Charlie couldn't hold back a chuckle at the imagery that his daughter had created.

**But when I walked into the cafeteria with Jessica — trying to keep my eyes from sweeping the place for him, and failing entirely — I saw that his four siblings of sorts were sitting together at the same table, and he was not with them.**

Carlisle exhaled roughly; he hated it when his children left; not only because he missed them and their family didn't feel whole, but also because of the effect it had on his wife.

"Where are you?" Charlie asked truly curious.

"Most likely visiting some of our cousins up in Alaska; trying to clear my head," Edward answered honestly.

"And you're alright with your kid skipping school?" Charlie asked Carlisle knowing that he would never let Bella do that.

"Edward's almost an adult and he typically is ahead in his classes he won't miss much," Carlisle answered with an automatic human response not wanting to give too much away before it was necessary.

**Mike intercepted us and steered us to his table. Jessica seemed elated by the attention, and her friends quickly joined us. But as I tried to listen to their easy chatter, I was terribly uncomfortable, waiting nervously for the moment he would arrive. I hoped that he would simply ignore me when he came, and prove my suspicions false.**

**He didn't come, and as time passed I grew more and more tense.**

**I walked to Biology with more confidence when, by the end of lunch, he still hadn't showed. Mike, who was taking on the qualities of a golden retriever, **

Edward snickered at the analogy knowing that it would be accurate.

Charlie and Carlisle just shook their heads at the _teenager_. While the Elders looked shocked at how immature the century old vampire could be.

**walked faithfully by my side to class. I held my breath at the door, but Edward Cullen wasn't there, either. I exhaled and went to my seat. Mike followed, talking about an upcoming trip to the beach.**

**He lingered by my desk till the bell rang. Then he smiled at me wistfully and went to sit by a girl with braces and a bad perm.**

Charlie and Billy shared a look that clearly showed that they were remembering they're years in high school when bad perms were a dime a dozen and braces came with external head gear, but that was the 8os for you.

**It looked like I was going to have to do something about Mike, and it wouldn't be easy. In a town like this, where everyone lived on top of everyone else, diplomacy was essential. I had never been enormously tactful; I had no practice dealing with overly-friendly boys.**

At this Charlie let out a sigh of relief which was ruined when Billy piped in, "Good luck keeping it that way."

"Oh I'm not worried. Being the chief of police has its perks," Charlie answered with complete seriousness that made Carlisle crack a smile.

**I was relieved that I had the desk to myself, that Edward was absent. I told myself that repeatedly. But I couldn't get rid of the nagging suspicion that I was the reason he wasn't there. It was ridiculous, and egotistical, to think that I could affect anyone that strongly. It was impossible. And yet I couldn't stop worrying that it was true.**

**When the school day was finally done, and the blush was fading out of my cheeks from the volleyball incident, I changed quickly back into my jeans and navy blue sweater. I hurried from the girls' locker room, pleased to find that I had successfully evaded my retriever friend for the moment.**

"Please Dad," Edward whined.

"No," Carlisle answered quickly knowing what his son was thinking.

"What does he want?" Charlie asked curiously.

"He and his brothers want to buy a golden retriever and name it after Mike," Carlisle answered with an eye roll. "But his sister is allergic to dogs." Carlisle added the last part as a reminder to Edward that the poor animal would die of a heart attack within three hours.

**I walked swiftly out to the parking lot. It was crowded now with fleeing students. I got in my truck and dug through my bag to make sure I had what I needed.**

**Last night I'd discovered that Charlie couldn't cook much besides fried eggs and bacon.**

Charlie was now flushed from sternum to forehead.

**So I requested that I be assigned kitchen detail for the duration of my stay. He was willing enough to hand over the keys to the banquet hall. I also found out that he had no food in the house. So I had my shopping list and the cash from the jar in the cupboard labeled FOOD MONEY, and I was on my way to the Thriftway.**

**I gunned my deafening engine to life, ignoring the heads that turned in my direction, and backed carefully into a place in the line of cars that were waiting to exit the parking lot. As I waited, trying to pretend that the earsplitting rumble was coming from someone else's car, I saw the two Cullens and the Hale twins getting into their car. It was the shiny new Volvo. Of course. I hadn't noticed their clothes before**

— **I'd been too mesmerized by their faces. Now that I looked, it was obvious that they were all dressed exceptionally well; simply, but in clothes that subtly hinted at designer origins. **

**With their remarkable good looks, the style with which they carried themselves, they could have worn dishrags and pulled it off. **

Both Carlisle and Edward went into full-on belly laughs due to picturing Alice's reaction to them wearing dish rags; it took a full five minutes for them to stop and another two minutes to explain to the other what had set them off.

**It seemed excessive for them to have both looks and money. But as far as I could tell, life worked that way most of the time. It didn't look as if it bought them any acceptance here.**

**No, I didn't fully believe that. The isolation must be their desire; I couldn't imagine any door that wouldn't be opened by that degree of beauty.**

Edward was surprised at how much understanding that Bella had gleaned from such a short period of time.

**They looked at my noisy truck as I passed them, just like everyone else. **

**I kept my eyes straight forward and was relieved when I finally was free of the school grounds.**

**The Thriftway was not far from the school, just a few streets south, off the highway. It was nice to be inside the supermarket; it felt normal. I did the shopping at home, and I fell into the pattern of the familiar task gladly. The store was big enough inside that I couldn't hear the tapping of the rain on the roof to remind me where I was.**

Charlie frowned at the sign that his daughter wasn't happy living with him.

"Don't worry Charlie she'll get use to it eventually," Billy encouraged, "You just have to let the place grow on her for a while."

This seemed to brighten Charlie's mood.

**When I got home, I unloaded all the groceries, stuffing them in wherever I could find an open space. I hoped Charlie wouldn't mind. I wrapped potatoes in foil and stuck them in the oven to bake, covered a steak in marinade and balanced it on top of a carton of eggs in the fridge.**

A couple of stomachs growled at the mention of food.

"Hold on for a minute guys I'm going to order a pizza," Charlie commented.

A few minutes later he returned and they continued with the reading.

**When I was finished with that, I took my book bag upstairs. Before starting my homework, I changed into a pair of dry sweats, pulled my damp hair up into a pony-tail, and checked my e-mail for the first time. I had three messages.**

**"Bella," my mom wrote…**

_**Write me as soon as you get in. Tell me how your flight was. Is it raining? I miss you already. I'm almost finished packing for Florida, but I can't find my pink blouse. Do you know where I put it? Phil says hi. Mom.**_

**I sighed and went to the next. It was sent eight hours after the first.**

**"Bella," she wrote…**

_**Why haven't you e-mailed me yet? What are you waiting for? Mom.**_

**The last was from this morning.**

_**Isabella,**_

_**If I haven't heard from you by 5:30 p.m. today I'm calling Charlie.**_

Charlie shook his head. "Typical Renee" he muttered under his breath.

**I checked the clock. I still had an hour, but my mom was well known for jumping the gun.**

_**Mom,**_

_**Calm down. I'm writing right now. Don't do anything rash.**_

_**Bella.**_

**I sent that, and began again.**

_**Mom,**_

_**Everything is great. Of course it's raining. I was waiting for something to write about. **_

_**School isn't bad, just a little repetitive. **_

_**I met some nice kids who sit by me at lunch. **_

_**Your blouse is at the dry cleaners - you were supposed to pick it up Friday. Charlie bought me a truck, can you believe it? I love it. It's old, but really sturdy, which is good, you know, for me.**_

Edward crinkled his eyebrows while realizing where Bella mysterious maturity came from…she was the adult when she was with her mother.

_**I miss you, too. I'll write again soon, but I'm not going to check my e-mail every five minutes. Relax, breathe. I love you.**_

_**Bella.**_

**I had decided to read Wuthering Heights — the novel we were currently studying in English — yet again for the fun of it, **

Carlisle gave a soft smile, "It is nice to hear that someone is still reading the classics without being forced to."

"Yeah, Bella's always been like that," Charlie responded, "When she was little she had Renee or I read her stories like _The Three Musketeers_ or _Black Beauty_."

**and that's what I was doing when Charlie came home. I'd lost track of the time, and I hurried downstairs to take the potatoes out and put the steak in to broil.**

"Look Charlie, you're going to eat food that doesn't come from a takeout box, a diner, or fried eggs," Billy teased. Charlie just blushed and shoved Billy's shoulder.

**"Bella?" my father called out when he heard me on the stairs.**

**Who else? I thought to myself.**

"Sarcasm, if children didn't think or speak it at least once a day the world would end," Quil Sr. comment making everyone, with the exception of Carlisle and Edward, realize how much older Quil Sr. really was than them.

**"Hey, Dad, welcome home."**

**"Thanks." He hung up his gun belt and stepped out of his boots as I bustled about the kitchen. As far as I was aware, he'd never shot the gun on the job. But he kept it ready. When I came here as a child, he would always remove the bullets as soon as he walked in the door. I guess he considered me old enough now not to shoot myself by accident, and not depressed enough to shoot myself on purpose.**

"It's just basic gun safety," Charlie commented.

**"What's for dinner?" he asked warily. My mother was an imaginative cook, and her experiments weren't always edible. I was surprised, and sad, that he seemed to remember that far back.**

**"Steak and potatoes," I answered, and he looked relieved.**

**He seemed to feel awkward standing in the kitchen doing nothing; he lumbered into the living room to watch TV while I worked. We were both more comfortable that way. I made a salad while the steaks cooked, and set the table. I called him in when dinner was ready, and he sniffed appreciatively as he walked into the room.**

**"Smells good, Bell."**

**"Thanks."**

**We ate in silence for a few minutes. It wasn't uncomfortable. Neither of us was bothered by the quiet. In some ways, we were well suited for living together. **

**"So, how did you like school? Have you made any friends?" he asked as he was taking seconds.**

**"Well, I have a few classes with a girl named Jessica. I sit with her friends at lunch. And there's this boy, Mike, who's very friendly. Everybody seems pretty nice." With one outstanding exception.**

Edward frowned and pulled his eyebrows down at the side comment.

_Edward, your actions with Bella were quite impressive considering she's your singer._

This didn't seem to improve Edward's self imagine.

**"That must be Mike Newton. Nice kid — nice family. His dad owns the sporting goods store just outside of town. He makes a good living off all the backpackers who come through here."**

**"Do you know the Cullen family?" I asked hesitantly.**

**"Dr. Cullen's family? Sure. Dr. Cullen's a great man."**

**"They… the kids… are a little different. They don't seem to fit in very well at school."**

**Charlie surprised me by looking angry.**

**"People in this town," he muttered. "Dr. Cullen is a brilliant surgeon who could probably work in any hospital in the world, make ten times the salary he gets here," he continued, getting louder. "We're lucky to have him — lucky that his wife wanted to live in a small town. He's an asset to the community, and all of those kids are well behaved and polite. I had my doubts, when they first moved in, with all those adopted teenagers. I thought we might have some problems with them. But they're all very mature — I haven't had one speck of trouble from any of them. That's more than I can say for the children of some folks who have lived in this town for generations. And they stick together the way a family should — camping trips every other weekend… Just because they're newcomers, people have to talk."**

Everyone was staring at Charlie in shock. Meanwhile Charlie was executing the trademark Swan blush.

"Thank you Charlie," Carlisle and Edward said in unison. All Charlie did was nod.

**It was the longest speech I'd ever heard Charlie make. He must feel strongly about whatever people were saying.**

**I backpedaled. "They seemed nice enough to me. I just noticed they kept to themselves. They're all very attractive," I added, trying to be more complimentary.**

**"You should see the doctor," Charlie said, laughing. "It's a good thing he's happily married. A lot of the nurses at the hospital have a hard time concentrating on their work with him around."**

Edward got a huge smirk on his face.

"Don't even think about it," Carlisle ordered.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Edward stated in an innocent voice.

"She already knows about them so there is no reason to tell your mother. You know it just upsets her," Carlisle responded.

"True. Fine, I won't say anything to Emmett, because anything he says would upset Esme," Edward answered.

Meanwhile the Elders were getting more evidence that the vampires weren't exactly what they thought.

**We lapsed back into silence as we finished eating. He cleared the table while I started on the dishes. He went back to the TV, and after I finished washing the dishes by hand — no dishwasher **

Everyone rolled their eyes, but then again the last time any of them had done the dishes was years ago.

— **I went upstairs unwillingly to work on my math homework. I could feel a tradition in the making.**

"It's more of a routine than a tradition," Harry commented under his breath; the misuse of words being a personal pet peeve of his.

**That night it was finally quiet. I fell asleep quickly, exhausted.**

**The rest of the week was uneventful. I got used to the routine of my classes. By Friday I was able to recognize, if not name, almost all the students at school. In Gym, the kids on my team learned not to pass me the ball and to step quickly in front of me if the other team tried to take advantage of my weakness. **

Billy gave Charlie a teasing smirk that made him go beet red from the top of his barely balding head down into his shirt.

**I happily stayed out of their way. Edward Cullen didn't come back to school.**

Carlisle look worried that the last statement knowing how much it upset his wife when one of their children was away.

"I am most likely in Denali trying to figure out what is occurring, and what I should do to prevent a disaster from happening," Edward said quiet enough that the humans in the room shouldn't have been able to hear what they were discussing, but they received a weird look from Charlie who couldn't hear word for word what they were saying, but heard enough that he knew something was off.

**Every day, I watched anxiously until the rest of the Cullens entered the cafeteria without him. Then I could relax and join in the lunchtime conversation. Mostly it centered around a trip to the La Push Ocean Park in two weeks that Mike was putting together. I was invited, and I had agreed to go, more out of politeness than desire.**

**Beaches should be hot and dry.**

**By Friday I was perfectly comfortable entering my Biology class, no longer worried that Edward would be there. **

"Great now he's going to show up," Billy said in an ominous tone.

**For all I knew, he had dropped out of school. I tried not to think about him, but I couldn't totally suppress the worry that I was responsible for his continued absence, ridiculous as it seemed.**

**My first weekend in Forks passed without incident. Charlie, unused to spending time in the usually empty house, worked most of the weekend. I cleaned the house, got ahead on my homework, and wrote my mom more bogusly cheerful e-mail. I did drive to the library Saturday, **

**but it was so poorly stocked that I didn't bother to get a card; I would have to make a date to visit Olympia or Seattle soon and find a good bookstore. **

**I wondered idly what kind of gas mileage the truck got… and shuddered at the thought.**

"I don't suggest that trip," Billy warned, "Even though Jake did a great job on re-building the old girl; she's not exactly economically friendly or long-distance stable for that matter."

**The rain stayed soft over the weekend, quiet, so I was able to sleep well.**

**People greeted me in the parking lot Monday morning. I didn't know all their names, but I waved back and smiled at everyone. It was colder this morning, but happily not raining. In English, Mike took his accustomed seat by my side. We had a pop quiz on Wuthering Heights. It was straightforward, very easy.**

**All in all, I was feeling a lot more comfortable than I had thought I would feel by this point. More comfortable than I had ever expected to feel here.**

"Human beings are highly adaptable creatures," Carlisle commented, "I would have been more surprised if she had been unable to change at all. A recent experiment by George Straton had a group of test subjects wear glasses that turned their vision upside down, but what was remarkable was that their brains adapted and by the end of the third day their vision had righted itself."

"Carlisle that was done in 1896," Edward corrected.

**When we walked out of class, the air was full of swirling bits of white. I could hear people shouting excitedly to each other. The wind bit at my cheeks, my nose.**

**"Wow," Mike said. "It's snowing."**

**I looked at the little cotton fluffs that were building up along the sidewalk and swirling erratically past my face.**

**"Ew." Snow. There went my good day.**

**He looked surprised. "Don't you like snow?"**

**"No. That means it's too cold for rain." Obviously. "Besides, I thought it was supposed to come down in flakes — you know, each one unique and all that.**

"It does under a microscope," Edward muttered to himself.

**These just look like the ends of Q-tips."**

**"Haven't you ever seen snow fall before?" he asked incredulously.**

**"Sure I have." I paused. "On TV."**

**Mike laughed. And then a big, squishy ball of dripping snow smacked into the back of his head. We both turned to see where it came from. I had my suspicions about Eric, who was walking away, his back toward us — in the wrong direction for his next class. **

"That kid has no clue. Doesn't he know the basic rules when it comes to nailing your friends with snow," Billy commented.

"Oh and what would those rules be?" Charlie asked sarcastically.

"Rule number one: When in a crowd, blend. Rule number two: distract your enemy," Billy said with a smirk remembering all of the times he had caught Charlie right in the face with a snowball using those rules.

**Mike apparently had the same notion. He bent over and began scraping together a pile of the white mush.**

**"I'll see you at lunch, okay?" I kept walking as I spoke. "Once people start throwing wet stuff, I go inside."**

**He just nodded, his eyes on Eric's retreating figure.**

**Throughout the morning, everyone chattered excitedly about the snow; apparently it was the first snowfall of the new year. I kept my mouth shut. Sure, it was drier than rain — until it melted in your socks.**

**I walked alertly to the cafeteria with Jessica after Spanish. Mush balls were flying everywhere. I kept a binder in my hands, ready to use it as a shield if necessary. **

**Jessica thought I was hilarious, but something in my expression kept her from lobbing a snowball at me herself.**

"I know that look. She gets it from Renee; whenever I was about to do something that Renee wouldn't have found funny. That look would stop flood waters from rising," Charlie reminisced with a shiver.

**Mike caught up to us as we walked in the doors, laughing, with ice melting the spikes in his hair. He and Jessica were talking animatedly about the snow fight as we got in line to buy food. I glanced toward that table in the corner out of habit. And then I froze where I stood. There were five people at the table.**

**Jessica pulled on my arm.**

**"Hello? Bella? What do you want?"**

**I looked down; my ears were hot. I had no reason to feel self-conscious, I reminded myself. I hadn't done anything wrong.**

**"What's with Bella?" Mike asked Jessica.**

"Hasn't this kid heard that it is rude to talk about someone like they aren't there?" questioned Old Quil.

"Mike is not very well-versed on manners," Edward answered.

**"Nothing," I answered. "I'll just get a soda today." I caught up to the end of the line.**

**"Aren't you hungry?" Jessica asked.**

**"Actually, I feel a little sick," I said, my eyes still on the floor.**

Edward frowned at the thought that his presence made her sick, but at the same time he didn't know why he cared.

**I waited for them to get their food, and then followed them to a table, my eyes on my feet.**

**I sipped my soda slowly, my stomach churning. Twice Mike asked, with unnecessary concern, how I was feeling.**

**I told him it was nothing, but I was wondering if I should play it up and escape to the nurse's office for the next hour.**

**Ridiculous. I shouldn't have to run away.**

**I decided to permit myself one glance at the Cullen family's table. If he was glaring at me, I would skip Biology, like the coward I was.**

**I kept my head down and glanced up under my lashes. None of them were looking this way. I lifted my head a little.**

**They were laughing. Edward, Jasper, and Emmett all had their hair entirely saturated with melting snow. Alice and Rosalie were leaning away as Emmett shook his dripping hair toward them. They were enjoying the snowy day, just like everyone else — only they looked more like a scene from a movie than the rest of us.**

"Alice," Carlisle and Edward said in unison while rolling their eyes.

**But, aside from the laughter and playfulness, there was something different, and I couldn't quite pinpoint what that difference was. I examined Edward the most carefully. His skin was less pale, I decided — flushed from the snow fight maybe — the circles under his eyes much less noticeable. **

Both the Cullens and the Elders were shocked by how much Bella could notice across a crowded cafeteria. Meanwhile Charlie was trying to figure out what all of it meant.

**But there was something more. I pondered, staring, trying to isolate the change.**

**"Bella, what are you staring at?" Jessica intruded, her eyes following my stare. At that precise moment, his eyes flashed over to meet mine.**

Carlisle chuckled remembering Edward's early years as a vampire and how it was difficult for him to not react to people's thoughts and to wait for them to actually voice their questions.

**I dropped my head, letting my hair fall to conceal my face. I was sure, though, in the instant our eyes met, that he didn't look harsh or unfriendly as he had the last time I'd seen him. He looked merely curious again, unsatisfied in some way.**

**"Edward Cullen is staring at you," Jessica giggled in my ear.**

**"He doesn't look angry, does he?" I couldn't help asking.**

**"No," she said, sounding confused by my question. "Should he be?"**

**"I don't think he likes me," I confided. I still felt queasy. I put my head down on my arm.**

**"The Cullens don't like anybody…well, they don't notice anybody enough to like them. But he's still staring at you."**

**"Stop looking at him," I hissed.**

**She snickered, but she looked away. I raised my head enough to make sure that she did, contemplating violence if she resisted.**

Charlie had a full-on belly laugh at this sentence. He was laughing so deeply it was making everyone wonder if there was a story behind it. When he finally stopped he noticed all of the questioning glances he was getting.

"Let's just say that Bella is rarely violent, but when you really piss her off, nothing and I mean nothing is going to save you. Lucky she hardly ever gets that mad," Charlie finished with a smile.

**Mike interrupted us then — he was planning an epic battle of the blizzard in the parking lot after school and wanted us to join. Jessica agreed enthusiastically. The way she looked at Mike left little doubt that she would be up for anything he suggested. **

"They deserve each other," Edward muttered.

**I kept silent. I would have to hide in the gym until the parking lot cleared. For the rest of the lunch hour I very carefully kept my eyes at my own table. I decided to honor the bargain I'd made with myself. Since he didn't look angry, I would go to Biology. My stomach did frightened little flips at the thought of sitting next to him again. **

**I didn't really want to walk to class with Mike as usual — he seemed to be a popular target for the snowball snipers — but when we went to the door, everyone besides me groaned in unison. **

**It was raining, washing all traces of the snow away in clear, icy ribbons down the side of the walkway. I pulled my hood up, secretly pleased. I would be free to go straight home after Gym.**

"She could have just gone anyway… the worst that could happen was that she would get nailed with a snowball," Harry Clearwater stated.

**Mike kept up a string of complaints on the way to building four.**

**Once inside the classroom, I saw with relief that my table was still empty. Mr. Banner was walking around the room, distributing one microscope and box of slides to each table. Class didn't start for a few minutes, and the room buzzed with conversation. I kept my eyes away from the door, doodling idly on the cover of my notebook. I heard very clearly when the chair next to me moved …**

"Trying not to scare her?" Carlisle thought.

"Most likely," Edward mumbled at a decibel that should have been beyond human's hear range, but he got some weird looks from Charlie.

… **but my eyes stayed carefully focused on the pattern I was drawing.**

**"Hello," said a quiet, musical voice.**

**I looked up, stunned that he was speaking to me. He was sitting as far away from me as the desk allowed, but his chair was angled toward me. His hair was dripping wet, disheveled — even so, he looked like he'd just finished shooting a commercial for hair gel. His dazzling face was friendly, open, a slight smile on his flawless lips.**

Charlie's face was slowly turning pink; he did _not_ want to hear about his daughter's attraction to boys.

**But his eyes were careful.**

**"My name is Edward Cullen," he continued. "I didn't have a chance to introduce myself last week. You must be Bella Swan."**

Once again Carlisle was chuckling to himself. Not being able to read Bella's mind was taking Edward back to square one…he was talking with knowledge from what others thought not with what others said.

**My mind was spinning with confusion. Had I made up the whole thing? He was perfectly polite now. I had to speak; he was waiting. But I couldn't think of anything conventional to say.**

**"H-how do you know my name?" I stammered.**

**He laughed a soft, enchanting laugh.**

**"Oh, I think everyone knows your name. The whole town's been waiting for you to arrive."**

**I grimaced. I knew it was something like that.**

**"No," I persisted stupidly. "I meant, why did you call me Bella?"**

**He seemed confused. "Do you prefer Isabella?"**

**"No, I like Bella," I said. "But I think Charlie — I mean my dad — must call me Isabella behind my back — that's what everyone here seems to know me as," I tried to explain, feeling like an utter moron.**

**"Oh." He let it drop. I looked away awkwardly.**

"You couldn't figure out an excuse, could you," Carlisle asked at a low decibel.

"Most likely I'm not accustomed to coming up with an excuse. I usually just read the excuse that the person has already come up with for themselves," Edward responded.

**Thankfully, Mr. Banner started class at that moment. I tried to concentrate as he explained the lab we would be doing today. The slides in the box were out of order. Working as lab partners, we had to separate the slides of onion root tip cells into the phases of mitosis they represented and label them accordingly. We weren't supposed to use our books. In twenty minutes, he would be coming around to see who had it right. "Get started," he commanded.**

**"Ladies first, partner?" Edward asked. I looked up to see him smiling a crooked smile so beautiful that I could only stare at him like an idiot.**

Now Edward and Charlie were looking a little embarrassed; the only difference was that Charlie went pink.

**"Or I could start, if you wish." The smile faded; he was obviously wondering if I was mentally competent.**

**"No," I said, flushing. "I'll go ahead."**

**I was showing off, just a little. I'd already done this lab, and I knew what I was looking for. It should be easy. **

**I snapped the first slide into place under the microscope and adjusted it quickly to the 40X objective. I studied the slide briefly.**

**My assessment was confident. "Prophase."**

**"Do you mind if I look?" he asked as I began to remove the slide.**"

**His hand caught mine, to stop me, as he asked. His fingers were ice-cold, like he'd been holding them in a snowdrift before class. **

**But that wasn't why I jerked my hand away so quickly. When he touched me, it stung my hand as if an electric current had passed through us.**

Edward looked at Carlisle with his eyebrows crinkled up obviously asking what the hell had just happened; unfortunately the only response he received was a shrug.

**"I'm sorry," he muttered, pulling his hand back immediately. **

**However, he continued to reach for the microscope. I watched him, still staggered, as he examined the slide for an even shorter time than I had.**

**"Prophase," he agreed, writing it neatly in the first space on our worksheet. He swiftly switched out the first slide for the second, and then glanced at it cursorily.**

**"Anaphase," he murmured, writing it down as he spoke.**

**I kept my voice indifferent. "May I?"**

This time Carlisle chuckled out loud drawing the attention of the Elders and Charlie.

"What's so funny?" Charlie finally asked.

"Edward doesn't get questioned on topics or actions very often; it's refreshing. I can just picture what's going through his mind," Carlisle responded.

**He smirked and pushed the microscope to me.**

**I looked through the eyepiece eagerly, only to be disappointed. Dang it, he was right. **

**"Slide three?" I held out my hand without looking at him.**

**He handed it to me; it seemed like he was being careful not to touch my skin again. **

**I took the most fleeting look I could manage.**

**"Interphase." I passed him the microscope before he could ask for it. He took a swift peek, and then wrote it down. I would have written it while he looked, but his clear, elegant script intimidated me.**

**I didn't want to spoil the page with my clumsy scrawl. **

Old Quil and the Cullen's all shook their heads…penmanship had gone severely downhill since any of them first learned to write.*

**We were finished before anyone else was close. I could see Mike and his partner comparing two slides again and again, and another group had their book open under the table.**

**Which left me with nothing to do but try to not look at him… unsuccessfully. **

**I glanced up, and he was staring at me, that same inexplicable look of frustration in his eyes. Suddenly I identified that subtle difference in his face.**

**"Did you get contacts?" I blurted out unthinkingly.**

Carlisle and Edwards eyebrows shot up at the question. Rarely did humans find the courage to look them in the eyes; their instincts simply didn't allow it.

**He seemed puzzled by my unexpected question. "No."**

**"Oh," I mumbled. "I thought there was something different about your eyes."**

**He shrugged, and looked away.**

**In fact, I was sure there was something different. I vividly remembered the flat black color of his eyes the last time he'd glared at me — the color was striking against the background of his pale skin and his auburn hair. Today, his eyes were a completely different color: a strange ocher, darker than butterscotch, but with the same golden tone. I didn't understand how that could be, unless he was lying for some reason about the contacts. Or maybe Forks was making me crazy in the literal sense of the word. I looked down. His hands were clenched into hard fists again.**

**Mr. Banner came to our table then, to see why we weren't working. He looked over our shoulders to glance at the completed lab, and then stared more intently to check the answers.**

**"So, Edward, didn't you think Isabella should get a chance with the microscope?" Mr. Banner asked.**

"Hey," Charlie exclaimed his daughter had always gotten an A in science.

**"Bella," Edward corrected automatically. "Actually, she identified three of the five."**

**Mr. Banner looked at me now; his expression was skeptical.**

**"Have you done this lab before?" he asked.**

**I smiled sheepishly. "Not with onion root."**

**"Whitefish blastula?"**

**"Yeah."**

**Mr. Banner nodded. "Were you in an advanced placement program in Phoenix ?"**

**"Yes."**

**"Well," he said after a moment, "I guess it's good you two are lab partners." He mumbled something else as he walked away. After he left, I began doodling on my notebook again.**

Edward chuckled, "He doesn't like our family."

"Why?" Harry asked with honest curiosity.

"We're smarter than him," Edward answered simply.

**"It's too bad about the snow, isn't it?" Edward asked. **

"Are you really talking about the weather?" Billy asked. It was just so clichéd.

"It's something we have in common," Edward muttered he didn't have experience trying to hold a genuine conversation with humans; that is without being able to pick their minds for clues.

**I had the feeling that he was forcing himself to make small talk with me. Paranoia swept over me again. It was like he had heard my conversation with Jessica at lunch and was trying to prove me wrong. "Not really," I answered honestly, instead of pretending to be normal like everyone else.**

**I was still trying to dislodge the stupid feeling of suspicion, and I couldn't concentrate.**

**"You don't like the cold." It wasn't a question.**

**"Or the wet."**

**"Forks must be a difficult place for you to live," he mused.**

**"You have no idea," I muttered darkly.**

**He looked fascinated by what I said, …**

"Well I can't hear her thoughts how else am I suppose to figure her out?" Edward mused to himself.

… **for some reason I couldn't imagine. His face was such a distraction that I tried not to look at it any more than courtesy absolutely** **demanded.**

**"Why did you come here, then?"**

**No one had asked me that — not straight out like he did, demanding.**

**"It's… complicated."**

**"I think I can keep up," he pressed.**

**I paused for a long moment, and then made the mistake of meeting his gaze. His dark gold eyes confused me, and I answered without thinking.**

**"My mother got remarried," I said.**

**"That doesn't sound so complex," he disagreed, but he was suddenly sympathetic.**

**"When did that happen?"**

**"Last September." My voice sounded sad, even to me.**

**"And you don't like him," Edward surmised, his tone still kind.**

**"No, Phil is fine. Too young, maybe, but nice enough."**

**"Why didn't you stay with them?"**

**I couldn't fathom his interest, …**

By this point everyone bar Carlisle was looking at Edward oddly wondering the same thing.

"Her actions contradict what I have learned to expect from teenagers in her situation," Edward answered stiffly; he found it bordering on ridiculous that they expected him to explain his future self's actions it wasn't as if he had lived through them yet.

…**but he continued to stare at me with penetrating eyes, as if my dull life's story was somehow vitally important.**

**"Phil travels a lot. He plays ball for a living." I half-smiled.**

**"Have I heard of him?" he asked, smiling in response.**

**"Probably not. He doesn't play well. Strictly minor league. He moves around a lot."**

**"And your mother sent you here so that she could travel with him." He said it as an assumption again, not a question.**

"Hey kid, you ever hear the expression that when you assume all you are doing is making an ass out of you and me?" Harry asked with a teasing smile.

"Maybe once or twice," Edward teased back.

**My chin raised a fraction. "No, she did not send me here. I sent myself."**

**His eyebrows knit together. "I don't understand," he admitted, and he seemed unnecessarily frustrated by that fact.**

**I sighed. Why was I explaining this to him?**

"Because whether you want to admit it or not you need to talk to someone about it," Charlie muttered while wishing that his daughter was comfortable enough to discuss her life with him more than a "Yeah dad, school was fine" or "Just stressing about an exam is all".

**He continued to stare at me with obvious curiosity.**

**"She stayed with me at first, but she missed him. It made her unhappy… so I decided it was time to spend some quality time with Charlie." My voice was glum by the time I finished.**

**"But now you're unhappy," he pointed out.**

**"And?" I challenged.**

**"That doesn't seem fair." He shrugged, but his eyes were still intense.**

**I laughed without humor. "Hasn't anyone ever told you? Life isn't fair."**

**"I believe I have heard that somewhere before," he agreed dryly.**

**"So that's all," I insisted, wondering why he was still staring at me that way.**

**His gaze became appraising. "You put on a good show," he said slowly. "But I'd be willing to bet that you're suffering more than you let anyone see."**

**I grimaced at him, resisting the impulse to stick out my tongue like a five-year-old, and looked away.**

Chuckling was heard throughout the room.

**"Am I wrong?"**

**I tried to ignore him.**

**"I didn't think so," he murmured smugly.**

**"Why does it matter to you?" I asked, irritated. I kept my eyes away, watching the teacher make his rounds.**

**"That's a very good question," he muttered, so quietly that I wondered if he was talking to himself.**

"She has good hearing," Edward muttered to Carlisle at a decibel that humans shouldn't have been able to hear at, but Charlie looked over at him obviously hearing what he said. "From her father apparently," he finished at an even lower decibel.

**However, after a few seconds of silence, I decided that was the only answer I was going to get.**

**I sighed, scowling at the blackboard.**

**"Am I annoying you?" he asked. He sounded amused.**

Carlisle chuckled as Edward's inner teenager began to show.

**I glanced at him without thinking… and told the truth again." Not exactly. I'm more annoyed at myself. My face is so easy to read — my mother always calls me her open book." I frowned.**

**"On the contrary, I find you very difficult to read." Despite everything that I'd said and he'd guessed, he sounded like he meant it.**

"You're being very open with her," Carlisle commented, "You're usually closed off to anyone outside the family."

**"You must be a good reader then," I replied.**

**"Usually." **

**He smiled widely, flashing a set of perfect, ultra white teeth.**

**Mr. Banner called the class to order then, and I turned with relief to listen. I was in disbelief that I'd just explained my dreary life to this bizarre, beautiful boy who may or may not despise me. **

**He'd seemed engrossed in our conversation, but now I could see, from the corner of my eye, that he was leaning away from me again, his hands gripping the edge of the table with unmistakable tension.**

Poor Charlie still in the dark was wondering why he was the only one who found this odd.

**I tried to appear attentive as Mr. Banner illustrated, with transparencies on the overhead projector, what I had seen without difficulty through the microscope. But my thoughts were unmanageable.**

**When the bell finally rang, Edward rushed as swiftly and as gracefully from the room as he had last Monday.**

"You need to slow down Edward, or she is going to catch on faster than she already is," Carlisle cautioned telepathically.

Edward merely rolled his eyes as if to say "I know that now".

**And, like last Monday, I stared after him in amazement. **

**Mike skipped quickly to my side and picked up my books for me. I imagined him with a wagging tail.**

**"That was awful," he groaned. "They all looked exactly the same. You're lucky you had Cullen for a partner."**

"Why is everyone assuming my daughter cannot do her science labs on her own?" Charlie asked in an indignant tone.

"Man relax, they most likely don't know her yet and are going based on themselves," Billy said trying to reassure his friend that no one thought his daughter was a dunce.

**"I didn't have any trouble with it," I said, stung by his assumption. I regretted the snub instantly. "I've done the lab before, though," I added before he could get his feelings hurt. **

"She's being too nice," Charlie grumbled under his breath still not appreciating the slight against his daughter's intelligence.

**"Cullen seemed friendly enough today," he commented as we shrugged into our raincoats. He didn't seem pleased about it.**

Cue another eye-roll from Edward.

**I tried to sound indifferent. "I wonder what was with him last Monday."**

**I couldn't concentrate on Mike's chatter as we walked to Gym, and P.E. didn't do much to hold my attention, either. Mike was on my team today. He chivalrously covered my position as well as his own, so my woolgathering was only interrupted when it was my turn to serve; my team ducked warily out of the way every time I was up.**

**The rain was just a mist as I walked to the parking lot, but I was happier when I was in the dry cab. I got the heater running, for once not caring about the mind-numbing roar of the engine. I unzipped my jacket, put the hood down, and fluffed my damp hair out so the heater could dry it on the way home.**

**I looked around me to make sure it was clear. That's when I noticed the still, white figure. Edward Cullen was leaning against the front door of the Volvo, three cars down from me, and staring intently in my direction. I swiftly looked away and threw the truck into reverse, almost hitting a rusty Toyota Corolla in my haste. Lucky for the Toyota, I stomped on the brake in time. It was just the sort of car that my truck would make scrap metal of. I took a deep breath, still looking out the other side of my car, and cautiously pulled out again, with greater success. I stared straight ahead as I passed the Volvo, but from a peripheral peek, I would swear I saw him laughing. **

Carlisle raised an eyebrow at his son; this was significantly more attention than he would usually give any human let alone one that incensed him so much.

Once again the chapter ended in silence; the only sign that the chapter had ended was Old Quil passing the book to Billy.

**AN: * I am currently going to school to be a teacher and I feel that the value of penmanship has seriously gone downhill. No I don't think everyone should write in calligraphy or even cursive all the time, but people could at least attempt to make their printing legible. Okay I'm done ranting. **


	4. Important

**AN: **So I'm taking some advice from one for my favorite FFN/AFF author. I am just going to let my muse take me where it wants to go. I think the reason that my writing is getting stalled is, because I keep trying to force it to work on the story I want it to focus on. So from now on I will update stories as my muse directs me; this means that I may update this story five times while ignoring my other ones or visa versa. I don't want people to worry that I am going to drop any of my stories. I love all of my stories. I will not being starting any new stories (with the exception of my series) until I am finished with all of my works in progress. So all I'm asking is for people to be patient with me I am working two jobs and going to school full time. Thank you for reading my pieces.


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